Portsmouth’s administration process took a new twist on Wednesday night as
Balram Chainrai unexpectedly resumed his interest.

In a statement to Sky Sports News, Chainrai announced the return of his offshore vehicle, Portpin, to takeover talks. He declared he had moved to rescue the club from liquidation, alleging Portsmouth Supporters Trust’s near-£8 million rescue bid had been rejected.

Trevor Birch, the club’s administrator, did not respond when The Daily Telegraph contacted him requesting confirmation of Chainrai’s claims.

"We understood from the administrator that the terms offered by PST were problematic in two areas,” said Chainrai. “Portpin [is] to take action to avoid imminent liquidation of Portsmouth. We hope to finalise the transaction in the next two weeks.

"Portpin is taking this step to save the club and looks to continue to work with interested parties, including the Supporters Trust. We hope everybody, including the huge fan base, will support this [rescue] process."

Chainrai’s claims were denied by souces close to the Trust who spoke to The Daily Telegraph last Wednesday night. “Our bid has been described as credible by Trevor Birch and we have been given no reason to believe there has been any change in that,” said a source close to the Trust.

It is a remarkable turnaround of events so soon after Chainrai announced his withdrawal from takeover talks last week. That statement hit out at almost all parties involved in the club and its administration process.

Having attacked the administrator, the Trust, Portsmouth fans in general and the former players who are the club’s football creditors, there was previously little sign that the Hong Kong-based Chainrai’s interest would be reignited.

Prior to Portpin quitting talks over a 2p-in-the-pound payoff deal for the club’s unsecured creditors, agreements amounting to £8 million were struck with football creditors: players including Kanu, Tal Ben Haim and Liam Lawrence. The Trust cannot afford to meet those commitments in full, and has attempted to enter negotiations with the players over a further reduction on their compensation for terminations of contract.

Chainrai has twice owned the Fratton Park club and was claiming against the club for £17.5 million in unsecured debts in the current administration. As one of the club’s secured creditors as well, he would also likely have received £2.75 million from to hand over the stadium property to any rescue bid.

With an estimated £4 million in working capital theoretically available to the administrator, the liquidation Chainrai mentions in his statement would have had to be called by a creditor with a major claim over the club. Who that is is currently unknown.